Group

Profession

Hi All!
First and foremost, I appreciate any and all feedback. I am a December 2019 graduate and am starting my first PA job this week (amongst the COVID crisis...perfect timing...)
I have, for as long as I can remember, struggled with feeling like I don't belong, am not good enough, am not smart enough, etc. and this has transformed into anxiety about being an inadequate provider. I am extremely excited to start caring for patients and I have the desire to learn as much as I possibly can, but I constantly have this nagging thought at the back of my head telling me that I am going to fail. That I'll hurt people due to lack of knowledge. That my attending and peers will think I'm dumb or that I'm not catching on quick enough.
For those of you who have been practicing for a while, or even if you're a new grad who has found ways to deal with this - please help! I need some reassurance that my fellow PAs have not only felt this way, but found ways to overcome it. Thanks again!

Does anyone use any of these? I find it useful with my patients to have for 2 reasons:
1- It gives you a number for future reference, to use as a base line for tracking patient progress.
2- Something objective in the patient's own hand to scan into the record for future reference.
If anyone is interested I have about 15 different ones I use. I also made short MACROS for pasting into the PE section when having the patient fill one out. Bonus: while the patient is filling out the assessment, I update the EMR, check the PMP and look at the intake documents.
Tomorrow I am posting a dilemma that I have been struggling with.... Stay tuned and please comment..
Thanks.

IMHO there is a great deal of potential in this specialty.
This article is a few months old but the numbers are solid...
https://www.managedcaremag.com/archives/2018/1/shrinking-psychiatrist-shortage
According to this article ' Nationally about 1,800 PAs, or roughly 2% of the total number practicing, specialize in psychiatry'.
Looking at Psychiatrist shortage ' From 2003 to 2013, the number of practicing psychiatrists declined by 0.2%, to 37,889 nationally by 2013. During the same decade, the number of adult primary care doctors increased by 9.5%, to 211,121 total, and by 14.2% to 862,444 among physicians overall'. ' By 2015, 60% were 55 years or older'.
I know.... You are thinking that new grads need experience for this type of work. This is not true. The right personality and an opportunity are all you need.... That and a desire to work in mental health, I should say...
Of course you can apply for a clerkship. I found 7 programs here:
https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/education/medstudents/pa.aspx
https://medicine.uiowa.edu/psychiatry/education/fellowship-programs/physician-assistant-pa-psychiatry-fellowship
https://www.houston.va.gov/Education/Physician_Assistant_Residency_Mental_Health/Physician_Assistant_Residency_Mental_Health.asp
https://www.novanthealth.org/careers/psychiatric-fellowship.aspx
https://www.carolinashealthcare.org/education/Center-for-Advanced-Practice/Fellowships/Behavioral-Health
https://medicine.missouri.edu/departments/psychiatry/fellowship-program/physician-assistant-fellowship
http://www.brookdalehospital.org/psychiatry-residency.html

Hi all,
Need some help/advice for dealing with anxiety.
I just started my first quarter of PA school about a month ago. At first glance, everything is seemingly going great- classmates are nice and I have made A's on all exams up to this point.
However, I have been dealing with a LOT of anxiety since day 1. It makes me feel not like myself at all! It has turned me into a quiet, sheepish, and slightly awkward person. I hate this.
At first, it was believing I wasn't as smart as my peers or outgoing enough (so, more of a social intimidation, unintentionally). Then, I convinced myself I'd probably not make it through the first quarter because of the sheer volume of info. Now that I've proved to myself I can conquer the material (so far), I still feel insecure because I find it difficult to connect with my peers. Sometimes I feel like I can't be my true self around them since we are supposed to maintain our professionalism.
Overall, I just feel a bit lonely and anxious with moving out of state and starting this rigorous program and I don't feel like I have an outlet. I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me, honestly why I am posting about this anonymously. I don't like to ask for help- and actually no one who knows me knows I struggle with this. But this kind of anxiety is a new beast I haven't dealt with before. Almost feels like my throat is being strangled :/. Considering therapy, but who has time for that??
Will any of this get better?

How to deal with excessive TEST ANXIETY
I am a high stress / high anxiety test taker. I took and passed the PANRE in 8/2014. Here is some of the research I did to help deal with the stress.
A study in the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment compared thirty five university students with ADHD and one hundred and eighty five typical peers on measures of speed, test anxiety, reading comprehension, vocabulary, test taking skills and time management. Surprisingly there was no significant differences between students with and without ADHD outside test anxiety. There was significant differences with anxiety during, and perceptions of, test taking. It appears that students with ADHD perform similarly to peers on timed reading tests, although they perception of performance was less and worried significantly about their performance.
The take home message is that if you suffer from test taking anxiety it is important not to label yourself, drop the negative thoughts. The label is a cognitive disorder and will do more harm than good.
Strategies for overcoming test anxiety.
1. Be prepared i.e. Joe’s @PABoardReview.org or other accredited test prep. programs, PANCE/PANRE review books.
2. Practice test questions in duration and complexity that mimic the PANCE/PANRE
3. Meditation. The PA Program @Touro University Nevada teach their students Koru “Jon Kabat-Zinn” University of Mass Mindfulness for stress relief.
Reference: Test Anxiety and College Students With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment September 1, 2014 32: 548-557

I just graduated and will be taking my PANCE Jan 10th. I signed up for the Hippo review back in september an studied that along my last semester board review/clinical therapeutics class. I also use Comprehensive review books, old PACKRATS, and exam master to study. I have taken two NCCPA practice tests..which gave me a good idea how they may ask questions (i'm hoping). I scored mostly in the green with some areas in red. However, when i took a second exam (on the same day) things I scored totally in red were in the green the next exam. For example, psych. I also write out concepts I have trouble remembering, and do notecards as well.
After reading posts on here, and many people stating all of their questions came our of left field, it is causing me extreme anxiety. I already have test anxiety and these posts aren't helping. :-/ I guess I need a little pick-me-up. I've been on the PA forum now for 2+ years before I even started for PA school..and have always loved the advice. Any advice would be much appreciated right now.

I am currently in my final year of classes and will go on my clinical rotations in May. I had a mental illness and severe anxiety and depression which led me to steal as a coping mechanism. I was caught and will have a misdeamor of theft on my criminal backround check that my school will run on me before I can start my rotations. I am currently in therapy and plan to make a full recovery to not let this happen again. I am afraid I will not be able to go on my clinical rotations with this now on my background which will also prevent me from graduating the PA program. Does anyone have any expierence or advice for me? I am currently in the pretrial part and may get a diversion but will not know until Feb. which would drop the charges but still be on my record.

Hi everyone. I took the PANCE this week and cannot handle the post-test anxiety.
So when I take tests, I always write down the questions that I don't 100% know the answer, so that I can go back. I did that when taking the PANCE and I feel like I absolutely knew around 60% (although towards the end I was less than diligent in doing this since I was frickin exhausted). The rest ranged from being between two answers and not knowing what the heck the question was even talking about, so I figure that hopefully I got at least 70%, most likely more - but while that would make me feel okay for a school test, it means nothing for the PANCE.
Because of the different test difficulties, the ridiculous way they score it, and how you're graded against others, I have no idea how I did and am freaking out. I've seen people on here get 70% and still fail. I also heard that scores are released every Thursday, but classmates took it last week and still haven't heard back. I pray I find out tomorrow, not only for my sake, but also my roommate's!
I have a job lined up and am getting married soon - I need to pass so that I keep my job and actually have an income again! Anyone else freaking out or with words of advice for dealing with this?
Thanks.

So I took the PANCE on Monday 8/30. My score should be available tomorrow. I'm anxious about it and I was hoping I could get a little feedback/support. When I finished the test, I didn't feel good about it, and I didn't feel bad about it. Looking back, I feel there's no way I failed it, but I'm still freaking out. Does everyone else feel like this? I know there's nothing to worry about; I did very well in school. I feel like my program prepared us. I used ExamMaster, the new AAPA/PAEA book and Lange yellow book. Our program also had a week of board reviews (taught by us) just before graduation (8/21). I've heard everyone feels this way! Is that true?